Drayage for Freight Forwarders and NVOCCs

Drayage for freight forwarders and NVOCCs

We provide drayage for freight forwarders and NVOCCs at the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, acting as the destination partner that picks up your customers' containers, deconsolidates LCL freight, moves uncleared cargo in bond and delivers to the final consignee. Our warehouse, container freight station and bonded facility are in Long Beach, close to both port complexes.

A forwarder's reputation at destination depends on people it does not employ. Your customer sees one result: whether the freight arrived on the promised day without surprise charges. Our job is to protect that result and give you the information to manage your customer before problems become complaints.

Through the San Pedro Bay ports, that work happens at scale. The Port of Long Beach handled about 9.9 million TEUs in 2025 and the Port of Los Angeles more than 10.2 million, so terminal congestion, appointment availability and free time are daily variables in freight forwarder logistics here.

What forwarders use us for at destination

Forwarders and NVOCCs typically hand us one or more of these US destination services for shipments arriving at Los Angeles and Long Beach:

• FCL door delivery. Port drayage from the terminal to your consignee's dock, live unload or drop, with the empty returned before detention builds.
• LCL deconsolidation. Your consolidation container devanned at our CFS, split by house bill, and released to each consignee or their trucker. See container freight station service in Long Beach.
• In-bond moves. Bonded drayage under our bonded carrier authority when cargo will clear at an inland port or enter a bonded warehouse.
• Bonded storage. Uncleared freight held in our CBP bonded warehouse while documents, payment or entry are sorted out.
• Pre-pulls and storage. Containers pulled before the last free day and parked in our yard through container storage when the consignee cannot receive yet.
• Onward trucking. Delivery by local truck, LTL or full truckload, including nationwide over-the-road moves and cross-border service to Canada and Mexico.

How forwarder drayage works from pre-alert to proof of delivery

Freight forwarder drayage runs on documents and milestones. This is the sequence we follow on a typical import, and where each party's information is needed.

1. 01
   Pre-alert and booking

   You send the pre-alert: master and house bills of lading, container numbers, vessel and ETA, commodity, weight and delivery address. Weight matters at this stage because heavy containers need a triaxle chassis, which we assign from our own fleet.

2. 02
   Availability and holds check

   Before the container is discharged, we watch terminal availability and holds. A container is not ready until the ocean carrier freight release, customs release (or in-bond authorization) and any terminal or agency holds are cleared.

3. 03
   Delivery order and appointment

   You issue the delivery order naming us as the trucker. We book the terminal appointment and plan the pull against the last free day, not just against the consignee's preferred date.

4. 04
   Pickup and routing

   FCL containers go to the consignee or to our yard on a pre-pull. LCL boxes come to our CFS for devanning. Uncleared cargo moves in bond to our bonded warehouse or to the inland destination port.

5. 05
   Delivery, empty return and POD

   We deliver, collect the signed proof of delivery, return the empty to the designated return location and send you the POD and any exceptions. Accessorials are itemized so you can bill your customer accurately.

Documents and data a destination partner needs

Missing data at destination is the most common reason a forwarder's shipment stalls. This table shows what we ask for and why.

How LCL deconsolidation works for NVOCCs

LCL deconsolidation is the process of unloading a consolidated container at a container freight station and separating the cargo by house bill so each consignee can collect or receive its own lot. For an NVOCC, the CFS is where one master shipment becomes many customer shipments.

When your consolidation container arrives, we pull it to our Long Beach CFS, devan it, count and check each HBL against the manifest, note visible damage or shortages, and stage lots for release. Each lot is released once the consignee's customs clearance and your freight release are confirmed. Lots still waiting on clearance can stay at the CFS, or move into bonded warehousing if they need more time.

Example: a 40-foot consolidation carries 14 house bills. Eleven consignees clear within two days and pick up or get local delivery. Two need freight consolidation with other inbound lots before an LTL move inland. One has a documentation problem and waits in bond. The container itself is returned empty early, so detention stops on the box even though one lot is unresolved. For more background, read what a container freight station is.

When freight moves in bond

An in-bond movement lets cargo travel from the port of unlading to another US port or to a bonded facility before it is entered for consumption. Forwarders use it when the consignee's broker will clear inland, when cargo is transiting to Canada or Mexico, or when entry is delayed and the freight needs to leave the terminal.

Under 19 CFR 18.1, in-bond merchandise generally must be delivered to CBP at the port of destination or exportation within 30 days. Only a carrier with bonded authority can move it, and the seals and paperwork must match at the other end. We hold bonded carrier authority and run these moves ourselves. Our in-bond shipments guide explains the entry types and timing.

Common destination problems and how we prevent them

Most forwarder complaints at destination trace back to a handful of avoidable issues.

Billing, demurrage and detention for forwarders

Forwarders sit between the ocean carrier and the customer, so they often receive demurrage and detention invoices they need to pass on or dispute. The Federal Maritime Commission's billing rule at 46 CFR Part 541, effective May 28, 2024, sets content and timing requirements for those invoices, which gives billed parties a clearer basis to challenge errors. Our demurrage and detention guide covers how the charges accrue.

On our side, the most useful thing we can do is keep the facts clean: when the container became available, when we picked it up, when it was delivered and when the empty went back. Those timestamps are what you need to reconcile carrier bills and defend your invoice to the customer.

What to look for in a freight forwarder drayage partner

• Bonded carrier authority and a bonded warehouse, so uncleared freight has somewhere legal to go.
• An in-house CFS for LCL, which avoids an extra move between the drayage company and a third-party station.
• Company-owned chassis in 20', 40' and triaxle configurations, which reduces chassis availability delays and pool charges.
• Milestone updates you can forward to your customer without rewriting them.
• Coverage of both ports, so you are not managing two providers for Port of Los Angeles drayage and Long Beach moves.
• One partner for the whole destination leg: drayage, warehousing, CFS and over-the-road delivery.

Frequently asked questions